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House Republicans Clear Way for Bill
On Food Stamps as Party Is Divided

By

David Rogers Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

Updated June 5, 1998 12:03 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON -- Congress, after weeks of Republican infighting, approved a farm and food-stamp bill that would restore nutrition benefits for thousands of legal immigrants cut from the rolls by welfare reform.

Final passage came on a 364-50 House vote as the GOP leadership abandoned its campaign to strip out the food-stamp provision. Farm state Republicans allied with antipoverty groups had stood firm for the $2 billion package, which includes money for popular crop insurance and agricultural research programs. The skirmish...